As I reflect on chapter 3 of William Bauer's "Music Learning Today" and the composition projects on MuseScore and Noteflight, I can not help but think about what can be done to reach out to "the other 80%," as cited by Bauer on page 46, that are not involved in traditional music programs across the country.
In my rural district in Southeastern Ohio, this 80% is much closer to 90%. With this being said, the annual talent show proves that many students in that 90% are musically gifted. Many students throughout the school have taught themselves how to play guitar, drums, and how to sing, but have not participated in the the school's music program. Though there are still a vast majority who might not know their musical ability, I wonder if more innovative music courses, that uses technology creatively as the main instrument, would encourage more students to bring their known, or unfound, talents to my music room.
After reading chapter 3, I am convinced that creating a class or ensemble such as GarageBand (band) could truly appeal to many of our students. Every student in our building is already provided an iPad or a chromebook by the district which makes programs such as GarageBand, MuseScore, and/or Noteflight extremely accessible. This could be a two semester class where students creatively use these devices and programs to explore, improvise, and compose their own works or to recreate the music they enjoy listening to on a daily basis. This would be a fun way for students to become familiar with the programs, and would allow for teachers to facilitate musical creativity. Bauer (2014) states that "constraints often help to facilitate the creative process, providing a framework, or scaffold, for creative efforts" (p. 51). This can be done in the first semester before moving on to using the same programs to create an ensemble that plays the pieces that were created in the first semester. This course would appeal to many students, regardless of their musical skill or ability, because it involves technology and the music they enjoy. Students who can play an instrument or sing can use these as instruments in GarageBand as part of their projects. Bauer (2014) provides several creative ways that teachers and students can explore improvisation through technology on page 55, but "modeling by the teacher and receiving appropriate formative feedback will (also) be helpful to student's development."
Though there are numerous possibilities based on the resources available to the students and teachers, a couple of ideas for using technology in creative ways in my classroom are demonstrated in the Youtube videos below.
Solo project or as an ensemble.
Korey,
ReplyDeleteMy instrumental student teaching placement had a garageband class. They were not, however, one to one on devices which proved to be a bit of a challenge. But if the goal is to bring in more of the 80 (90) percent, it really is a great way to do it. There were quite a few students in that class who were not a part of the band or the orchestra (they did not have choir at that school).
I too took to heart the comment about the 80%. It is a little different at the elementary school as they all have to have me, but I want to keep interest up even as they leave me. To this end I talk in my blog about possibly starting an after school composition club. I think you're right, the more technology we infuse into our classes and the more outside the traditional ensemble approach we go with them, the more of that 80/90% we will be able to capture or retain.
Good luck looking into the advent of a garageband or other composition type class!
I was also struck with the statement about the "other 80%", and I agree that programs like Garageband could help to engage them. Unfortunately GarageBand is very expensive. I hope that we will learn some free alternatives to this in our class. I really like that this familiarized me with Noteflight and MuseScore.
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